Aug 19, 2024
Aruna Sri Lanka multi day Tour - Highly Recommend! - Wow! our last tour with Aruna was as incredible as the previous.
Details of our customised itinerary can be found below. However, our heartfelt recommendation first:
Aruna is an amazing, dependable, safe, driver whose enthusiasm to show people his country is genuine and backed by knowing its every corner. He is so energetic and will have you exploring from morning to night, actively climbing each mountain and rock with you and taking you where no other tourists go. He is slso very flexible and will adapt his offering to your needs and wants.
We recommend booking Aruna to all who want to see more than the beaten track, in their own pace, at a very reasonable price, and with peace of mind which is not always easy to get in Sri Lanka.
Peace of mind is especially worth noting as in our travels in Sri Lanka we experienced, (all from reputable firms): a few dangerous drivers, a driver who wouldn't go 3 KM outside of the pre-booked 170km route to add a single temple visit upon request, and the worst... a driver who just didn't show up. (guess who I called in my panic when said driver did not show up and who dropped everything to save the day?).
True to form, Aruna tailored the 4 day tour specifically for our wants, and physical ability. Our itinerary:
Day 1:
* From Negombo to climb Yapahuwa Rock Fortress. So much history, archaeological and natural beauty. Plus - no other foreigners but ourselves
* Drive to Dambulla
* After lunch we visited the beautiful Dambulla cave temple
* If it were up to Aruna, we would be climbing Pidurangala Rock in time for sunset, but our muscles said no more for today!
* We settled for watching the sunset over Sigiriya from the hotel roof terrace, while Aruna got busy in the hotel restaurant and cooked an excellent meal for us in there, which we enjoyed on the terrace (the hotel is run by his friends)
Day 2:
* Sigirya early morning
* the amazing Polononnaruwa
Note- Many visit Polononnaruwa cycling, but we went in the airconditioned car and not only saved time and energy, but got to explore further-afield amazing areas that cyclists wouldn't likely reach.
* Drive to Trincomalee, which we still managed to site-see in the afternoon, go for a swim and have dinner on the beach.
Day 3:
* Girihandu Seya. An amazing ancient and spiritual temple, with Sri Lana's oldest stupa, where again we were the only foreigners about
* Arisimalai beach and nearby fishermen village
* Drive to Anuradhapura
* Aruna was looking forward to climbing up Mihintale in the afternoon. Again, it was us who admitted we are not up to it.
Day 4: our last day in Sri Lanka.
* Anuradhapura sites in the morning. Again, we drove rather than cycle
* a spot of rest before the long drive
* Drive back to the International airport (4 hours drive In quite poor conditions).
On day 4 alone, Aruna started at 7am, and was not off the clock until well past 9pm.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Feb 6, 2024
Great tour! - We had a great time with Aruna, he drove us everywhere, explained a lot to us and took all our wishes into account. With Aruna you have a very nice and funny driver. We were traveling with our one-year-old baby, he was very considerate of our little one and was very child-friendly.
Our tour went from Ella to Nuwara Eljya (Little England), Kandy (traditional Sri Lankan dances, delicious vegetarian food and of course the Temple of the Tooth), on to Dambula (cave temple and golden Buddha) past a waterfall and tea plantations, Ayurveda plantation, to Sigiriya to the Lion Rock and finally to Galle.
An all-round great tour!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dec 30, 2019
Simply amazing - Thank you so much Aruna for showing us so many beautiful places of Sri Lanka!!
We contacted Aruna before our travels and he made an itinerary that suited our imaginations. He always got back to us right away and we didn't have to pay beforehand, we paid after our trip. Once we met in Sri Lanka, he was perfectly on time and we realized straight away that we would get along very well. Aruna is THE perfect guide!! He explained us everything we wanted to know, not only about the sights we visited, also about the culture,the locals and of course the animals and plants. He is 100% reliable, which is not always the case when you travel abroad. So we can highly recommend to book Aruna to show you this amazing country.
On our tour we rode a tuktuk for 1100 km!! That was so much fun and so quick and lively.
Once again, thank you so much Aruna. We will never forget our trip to Sri Lanka, you made it very special to us :)
Anna and Florian
Review provided by Tripadvisor